Clifford Lamb - Blues & Hues New Orleans

Styles: Piano Jazz
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 34:29
Size: 80,7 MB
Art: Front

(5:15) 1. Curtain Time
(7:17) 2. Clench
(4:01) 3. Voodoo With Hoodoo
(2:50) 4. Mardi Gras
(4:46) 5. Unrequited Love
(7:00) 6. Blues & Hues New Orleans
(3:17) 7. Final Curtain

There are quite a few cities in the world that have an important musical legacy, and in many cases, the city's musical history might be one of the first things people associate with it. Take New Orleans. Commonly known as the birthplace of jazz, it's hard to imagine New Orleans without conjuring up brass bands, jazz clubs and juke joints. San Francisco-based pianist Clifford Lamb explores New Orleans' musical and cultural aspects with Blues & Hues New Orleans by offering musical mashups exploring the Crescent City's legacy.

A mashup is certainly nothing new in music. This is, of course, where an artist takes elements from existing works and synthesizes them into a unique original composition. Musicians have done this to a greater or lesser degree for years in genres such as hip hop and experimental music. However, mashups have also been a growing part of jazz as well. Artists such as Robert Glasper and Us3 have utilized mashups successfully in their music.

Lamb, who has been a musician since his childhood, began working with mashups on his 2019 recording Blues & Hues (Weber Works). Although he originally studied classical music, he developed an interest in jazz as a teenager and continued his studies at Boston's Berklee College of Music. During his professional career, he's played with some of the top names in jazz, including Kevin Eubanks, John Patitucci, and Tommy Campbell. By working with mashups, he uses his experience and compositional skills to explore new possibilities in jazz.

With Blues & Hues New Orleans, he takes the mashup concept to a new level. As Lamb describes it, he wants to use the mashups "to embrace the elements of an individual city," and it's not just limited to the uplifting parts of the city's history. He wants listeners to experience each city in its entirety. New Orleans is the first stop on his musical road trip, which seems appropriate. Lamb is joined here by Herlin Riley on drums, Gregg Bissonette on drums, Roland Guerin on bass, Rhonda Smith on bass, Nicholas Payton on trumpet, Donald Harrison on alto saxophone, and Justin Klunk on alto saxophone. The album was recorded in New Orleans, and the musicians definitely capture the city's spirit. Whether it's thoughtful melodic pieces like "Unrequited Love" or more funky grooves such as "Mardi Gras," there's an unmistakable New Orleans vibe throughout.

The album, however, wouldn't have the same feel without the mashups. Lamb takes his own songs and fuses them with music by composers such as Charles Mingus, McCoy Tyner, Terrence Blanchard, and Max Steiner. The result is something other than a collection of Lamb originals with a few references thrown in. This is true integration of musical compositions, a musical gumbo celebrating New Orleans from its earliest days to the present. Blues & Hues New Orleans offers more than just an album of good jazz music. It celebrates the power of community and also gives the audience something to think about. Listening to the album will, Lamb hopes, "give people a chance to reflect on their own lives and by doing so it will give them the chance to not only appreciate the music, but also experience what the music truly has to offer.~ Kyle Simpler https://www.allaboutjazz.com/blues-and-hues-new-orleans-clifford-lamb-webberworks-entertainment-group

Personnel: Clifford Lamb: piano; Herlin Riley: drums; Nicholas Payton: trumpet; Donald Harrison: saxophone, alto; Roland Guerin: bass; Gregg Bissonette: drums; Rhonda Smith: bass; Justin Klunk: saxophone, alto.

Blues & Hues New Orleans

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Clifford Lamb - Brothers & Sisters

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 25:34
Size: 58.5 MB
Styles: Contemporary jazz
Year: 2017
Art: Front

[3:54] 1. Hold The Line
[5:13] 2. Brothers & Sisters
[5:41] 3. What's Going On
[4:48] 4. Red & Blue
[2:43] 5. Fair Weather
[3:13] 6. Kamala's Dance

On Brothers & Sisters, Clifford Lamb builds upon his previous release to further bridge the several streams that flow together in his music: his work as a composer; his flair for arranging music written by others; his abilities as an improvising pianist, working with first-rank collaborators; and his desire to incorporate newer developments into a style and career steeped in the jazz tradition. Add in a concern with matters of fairness and justice, and that’s a lot to pack into 25 minutes. Yet this set feels neither rushed or overstuffed – a testament to the purpose and command at the heart of these songs.

Take the title track, for example. Although inspired by recent events – a political campaign that has exposed the deep divisions in American life – it in fact could have sprung from pretty much any epoch in the history of man. Spanish-born vocalist Laura Vall (of the indie pop band The Controversy) provides the ethereal introduction, aided by Cindy Blackman Santana’s shimmering cymbal work. Then Lamb and the legendary bassist Buster Williams fill out the groove, setting the stage for poet Chaim Dunbar to remind listeners of a message that always needs restating: “Unaware of our family ties,” raps Dunbar, “we become complicit in our own demise.” Adds Lamb: “It reflects the urgency I feel about what’s going on in the world, politically and socioeconomically, along with my feeling about how people should ideally be getting along. We’re all the same, and we should address each other as human beings first.”

Brothers & Sisters is the second of Lamb’s “cameo collections,” short albums of six or seven tracks that present a digital-age version of the vinyl era’s EP (Extended Play) discs. These allow Lamb to follow the lead of hip-hop and pop artists who – unburdened by the directive to complete a full-length album for each release – can intensify the relevance of their music by shrinking the gap between creation and consumption. As with the previous release Bridges, Lamb recorded direct to two-track, with no post-production tweaks to amend what took place in the studio. What you hear is what they played.

Brothers & Sisters

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